Last August, Kevin Pederson won the Men's Simon Fraser Open for the fourth time in his career.
He won't be around to try for a fifth title this year.
The annual men's golf tournament tees off Saturday at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. The three-round event had originally been planned for later in the month but was moved ahead to accommodate the Prince George Cougars Alumni Hospital Pro-Am tournament, Aug. 16-17.
The schedule change didn't fit into Pederson's life because, for this weekend, he had already booked a trip to Whistler. He'll be there with family and friends and will play a much more relaxed round of golf on Saturday.
Pederson has mixed emotions about not being able to shoot for back-to-back Simon championships and No. 5 overall.
"Hopefully next year the dates will be a little bit better," he said. "It's tough. I'm not overly disappointed but it's always nice to try to defend."
Pederson's other victories in the Simon came in 2004, 2006 and 2009.
In Pederson's absence, a couple of the favourites this weekend will be Mike Legg and Blair Anderson.
Legg is coming off a win at last weekend's Aberdeen Glen Men's Open, an event in which he defeated Jason Howse in a playoff. On the par 73 course, both men were two-over after two rounds.
Anderson, meanwhile, fired a first-round 70 at the Aberdeen Open but ballooned to an 80 the second day. Still, he's capable of shooting low numbers and is also a previous winner of the Simon (2008, at the age of 17).
The first tee time on Saturday is 7:30 a.m. As of Thursday afternoon, 90 players had registered to participate.
Claude Bertoli, a Simon Fraser Open committee member, said the par 71 layout is in good condition, even if there is some stubborn winter-kill on the fairways.
"We're still having a little trouble with the fairways but the greens are in awesome condition," he said. "We're expecting them to be pretty fast."
-- At the Northern Capital Sports Society Charity Golf Tournament last Saturday at the PGGCC, Dino Caputo won a new truck from Wood Wheaton Supercentre when he recorded a hole-in-one on the par 3 10th hole.
That night, during a post-dinner auction, Alex Goldie was the successful bidder on an autographed Scott Niedermayer jersey from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Goldie, owner of Prince George's Admiral Roofing, shelled out $2,000 for the shirt.
"I figured it should go for about $3,500 and I was just helping to bid it up," he said with a chuckle. "I bid once and nobody followed me up."
The society has not yet determined how much money the tournament and auction raised. Proceeds will go to Prince George Special Olympics, the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame, the Terry Wilson Memorial Cup soccer tournament and other local charities.
